Lime Green Jello
by LiL-kristin-o7
Summary: That insipid James Potter. If it weren't for him, she wouldn't be laying there, on a bed with sheets that were too white, in a room that was too clean, eating Madam Pomfrey's infernal lime green jello.
1. Of Breakdowns and Jello

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Harry Potter. Clearly, I am not that amazing. JKR is the sole person in the planet who has that amount of amazingess.

_**Author's Note: **This story was inspired by a comment my freshman chemistry professor made, regarding lime green jello and hospital food. Now, without further ado..._

* * *

**Chapter 1**

**Of Breakdowns and Jello**

"Ugh…"

This was not what needed to be happening right now. Actually, this needed to not be happening until after Christmas, after NEWTS, after graduation. There was simply too much to do, what with school work, her friends' on going social dramas, and picking up the slack of all the prefects who blew off their nightly patrols. The former two were no problem, she'd had six years to learn how to balance those two, but her seventh year brought the responsibilities of Head Girl. She'd even been managing balancing the third with everything else until a few weeks ago. It seemed that a few of the prefects decided it would be fun to use their patrol duty to catch up on some 'much needed' physical contact. Upon finding this out, instead of scolding them, being the too nice person she was, she relieved them of their weekly duties. She was firm believer in doing things yourself if you wanted them done right. It turned out, however, that three patrol duties a week, two of them solo acts, were just a little too much, even for the infallible Lily Evans. She had considered asking for help once or twice, but James had been so busy with Quid-

POTTER! He was the reason she was stuck here! He was the reason, that instead of writing her 18 inch essay on the differences between a Patronus and a shield charm, or instead of helping her best friend Alice Prewett through her latest beau problem, she was in the hospital wing, being unproductive and a burden.

They'd been doing so well, too well in fact. The Head Boy and Girl hadn't fought since the second week of classes; it seemed that a truce had been made between the two. Eventually that truce had turned into a friendship, which, much to Lily's chagrin, pulled both her and Alice into regular 'jam sessions,' as the boys liked to call them, with the Marauders. It was after one of these jam sessions (Lily liked to refer to them as "Everyone-let's-piss-around-so-we-don't-have-to-do-our-schoolwork" sessions) that the aforementioned fight had occurred.

* * *

The Marauders thought it would be a splendid idea to spend the afternoon playing Exploding Snap in the Heads' Common Room, apparently the acoustics in the Gryffindor common room "just weren't right to get that perfect snapping sound, Lily dear." Realizing she didn't have the energy to waste on a fight with one Sirius Black, she simply grabbed her books, said a few words to Alice, and walked up to her personal sanctuary.

After casting a silencing charm on her room, Lily dropped her books onto the table right next to her door, closed her eyes, and inhaled deeply. She loved the smell of her room; sometimes it was the only thing that could calm her down, get her to take a few moments to herself. It reminded her of fresh cut grass in the summer, the summers before Hogwarts, when Tuney still spoke to her, the summers that, although she'd never admit it to anyone, she missed more than anything. Her older sister hadn't spoken to her in a year and a half, and hadn't acted civil in almost 4 years. Lily was a freak. She went to a freak school, had freak friends, and could never dream of being normal. A tear slid down her cheek as she thought of those carefree summers, but she quickly wiped it away. Lily didn't cry. She was the strong one, she was the girl that everyone turned to for help, Lily never broke.

She opened her eyes again, and looked around the room that offered a privacy she would never take for granted. It wasn't an overly large room, nothing grandiose about it. Her bed was the same from her past six years, a simple four-poster with scarlet curtains and bedspread, and the softest pillows she'd ever rested her head on. Her desk was directly across the room from her bed, something Alice had insisted upon. She stifled a laugh at the memory of the day she moved into her Head room.

"_I think I'll have the desk right here, right next to my bed." As Lily said this she flicked her wand, moving the desk adjacent to her bed._

"_No, absolutely not! Lily, you can't put your desk right there, I won't have it." With a little more force than necessary, Alice sent the desk to the opposite side of the room. "I know you. If your desk is right next to your bed, there's not stopping you from waking up at two in the morning with some obscure reason that you need completely re-write your Defense essay, and jumping into your desk and spending the entire night on it. Remember our goal this year, Lily? Our goal to have a FUN and EXCITING, NON WORK FILLED seventh year? Remember that?"_

"_I remember it! I do! And who's to say that if my desk is on the opposite side of my room that I still won't wake up with that obscure reason?" With another flick of her wrist, the desk was sent back its place by her bed. Lily knew exactly what Alice was hinting at with her whole argument, but she was hoping that Alice would just let it go._

"_Because, Lily darling, if your desk is right next to your bed, you'll have no trouble getting up and doing it. However, if little miss sleepy pants has to walk to get to her desk, there's a much slimmer chance of her actually getting up and doing it." Alice stuck her tongue out as she said this, knowing that she was going to win the argument._

"_No-"_

"_Don't try to argue you're way out of it. The desk is going over here-" she flicked her wrist again "-and it's staying there." Finishing her sentence, she muttered something under her breath and grinned. "Go ahead, move it."_

_With those words, Lily knew what Alice had done, and she knew that there was no way that desk was being moved unless Albus Dumbledore himself came into her room and removed Alice's trademarked Permanent Sticking Charm._

Shaking her head, Lily came out of her reverie. _Not now_, she thought to herself, _I have work I need to get done!_ At this point in her life, Lily knew what falling into a memory meant. She needed a reprieve from her work, and fast. Rationalizing that a twenty minute power nap would do her no harm, she curled up in her four-poster, and fell asleep without even shutting out the midday sun.

* * *

Lily was in Charms class; it was the day of the weekly oral quiz. All of the other students' questions thus far had been relatively easy, and Lily was positive that she would easily pass this quiz. Without even a hint of nerves, Lily walked to the front of the class for her turn.

"Miss Evans, kindly demonstrate the proper wrist movement for a Levitation Charm."

_Oh, Professor Flitwick, how cute. This questions is easy, _she thought to herself. _A first year could answer this question!_

"Why Professor Flitwick this is the correct movement." Lily made to move her hand, but her arm simply flopped around. She attempted again, hoping no one had noticed that failed attempt. Again, her hand just wiggled around at her side.

"Lily…" Professor Flitwick was knocking on his desk, growing impatient. She tried again, hoping that this time her hand would actually coordinate.

"Lily…" Flitwick's knocking was growing louder, more impatient, he was even calling her Lily! She knew how to do this, she really did!

"LILY!"

Lily sat bolt upright, only to have her forehead come in contact with none other than James Potter.

"OW!" They both reeled back, James to the middle of the room, and Lily onto her pillow, as they clutchd their foreheads in pain. Lily was seeing stars at the moment, and took a few minutes to register that James was in her room, when he should be downstairs playing Exploding Snap with his friends.

"What're you doing up here, James? You can't possibly be bored of Exploding Snap after just ten minutes. What about the acoustics?" Lily was slightly irritable after being woken up from her nap, after all, she still had another ten minutes to relax before starting her essay!"

"Actually, Lily, I came to bring you some dinner." He gestured to what looked like a tray filled with shepherd's pie, corn, and a chocolate éclair – her favorites.

"Oh, thanks James! But I'm not that busy that I can't come down to dinner with all of you later! I just needed some time to work on my essay for charms. I'll be down around five." She got out of her bed and walked across the room to her desk - her desk that was missing a very important pool of sunlight. Her eyes widened in horror.

"WHAT TIME IS IT?!"

"You see Lily, that's why I brought you dinner. It's nearing eight o'clock." Even in the dimly lit room, James could see her eyes darkening. Surely she couldn't blame him for letting her sleep?

Surely she could.

"EIGHT O'CLOCK! WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME UP?" She began panicking. 6 hours, wasted to sleep. Six hours she could have spent doing her Charms essay. Six hours she could have spent studying for her Defense exam in three days. Six hours she could have spent –_ Lily, stop. You can do this. Make a list._ She had an hour before she had to cover Emmeline's rounds. If she started right now she could probably get about 6 inches-

"Lily! Breathe! You need to breathe. You'll be fine!" James couldn't understand the way she always freaked out over things like this. She needed the sleep ; he'd been watching her slowly sinking herself into a horrid state.

"Fine? You think I'll be FINE?! Maybe I would've been fine. Maybe, if instead of playing your insipid, childish, games, if instead of worrying about the state of your messed up hair, or that stupid red ball you seem to love so much, maybe if you'd had the sense to wake me up, I'd be fine! But no. Now I'll be up all night! I guess it's a good thing I had such a long nap!" She couldn't understand why she was taking it out on James, he really hadn't done anything wrong. But _why,_ oh _why_ didn't he have the sense to wake her up before?

"WHY didn't I wake you up? WHY? I'll tell you WHY. Because I've been watching you – you're killing yourself! You're not a super hero. You can't do it all, Lily! You're already taking a ridiculous course load, you never breathe. Don't think I haven't noticed all of the extra help you're giving Flitwick and Slughorn. You are NOT their personal slave! And for God's SAKE, woman, learn to say NO! Alice is a big girl, let her take care of herself!" He was done. If she wanted a fight, she'd get a fight. He'd been tiptoeing around her for the past few weeks, knowing that one wrong move would set her off. But damnit, he wasn't just going to let her use him as a personal outlet.

Lily simply rolled her eyes. _If only you knew about all of the work I do. Flitwick, Slughorn, and Alice? I've been dealing with them since second year._ Lily was thankful he hadn't called her out on picking up two extra nights of patrolling duty. She was surprised he hadn't noticed her missing on Sunday and Thursday nights, but apparently he really had been caught up in everything Quidditch.

"And don't think I don't know about you covering for Emmeline and Amos! You can't keep doing this to yourself, Lily! Everyone has their limits, and I think you bloody well exceeded yours about fifteen miles back!" He was fuming. Did she think he was an idiot?

"Don't you pretend to know my limits, Potter!" She spat the name out, knowing full well how James would react. She was beginning to feel a little light headed, but that was to be expected. It had been so long since she'd had a good yell at Potter and her lungs must have not been used to it.

"You're right, Evans. You're exactly right. Because I guess you're perfect. I guess you can do whatever it is you want, and piss off to everyone else. You are Lily BLOODY Evans. Woman extraordinaire, A student, best friend to all. Oh yes, and always, without fail, LETS EVERYONE WALK ALL OVER HER." With those words, he pivoted, determined to be the one who ended the argument.

Clearly he had forgotten what fighting with Lily Evans was like.

"WALK ALL OVER ME?" She didn't let everyone walk all over her. She could say no, she could. She was just nice, and empathized with people. "I most certainly do not let people WALK all over me! I'm RESPECTED. And at least-" Why was the room wobbling like that? "-at LEAST-" Seriously, it needed to stop spinning like that.

When Lily faltered over her words like she did, James turned around. The face that was usually so red when inflamed with an argument was pale and almost jaundiced.

"Lily?" She seemed to have stopped breathing. "Lily?"

The weak spell that Lily experienced was her only savior from a painful impact with a cold, stone floor.

* * *

That insipid James Potter. If he had just woken her up, or had just let her be to do her work, she'd be able to go back to her room. She wouldn't be stuck, laying in a bed that was too white, surrounded by a room that was too clean, eating Madam Pomfrey's infernal lime green jello.


	2. Of Portraits and Prefects

_**Author's Note:**__ First off, let me say thank you for all of the reviews! They really are a drug, so keep them coming!! Second, I'd just like to mention that I never understood how people complained about character's not behaving, but now I do. A certain James Potter and one Albus Dumbledore REFUSED to do anything I asked of them. Pffsh, men. And finally, my plan for this story! I'm thinking two more chapters of LGJ, and then perhaps a sequel of sorts, with much more of a plot, and needless to say, longer than 4 chapters. Let me know what you think, and I hope you are loving Lime Green Jello!_

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**Of Portraits and Prefects**

It was 8:30, and James Potter was on a warpath. Lily was in the hospital wing, THE HOSPITAL WING, for Merlin's sake, and there was very little he could do about it. If she was going to choose to work herself beyond the brink of exhaustion, if she was going to kill herself to make others happy, he'd let her. However, he was NOT going to let his prefects drive her any further than she drove herself, and this was the exact reason that James Potter could be found pacing the floor, none too far from an extremely ticklish pear, awaiting the appearance of one Hufflepuff prefect, Amos Diggory. Sprout nor Flitwick had mentioned anything to James about Diggory or Vance missing their weekly rounds, so they must have been keeping up the façade that they were still doing them. This in mind, James knew it was only a matter of time before that selfish, no good, self absorbed – prefect who he had to be civil to if he wanted to maintain his position – walked out of his common room to 'go on patrol.'

"Dearie, if you keep pacing back and forth like that, you'll be sure to put a rut in the floor," James was startled out of his personal berating of his prefects by a painting of a kind old lady in a rocking chair. Funny, he didn't remember that painting being there, in fact, he didn't remember that painting at all. "No, no, no, that won't do at all. You must sit down, take deep breaths, and think calmly. That's it, love. Relax."

_Who was this woman, my grandmother?_ James was a little taken aback by the painting's forwardness, and regardless of her politeness, he felt she was being very rude. _Oh, come on James, you're just taking out your anger on the painting. Save it for someone who deserves it."_ Despite how much he really didn't want to, James took a few deep breaths and sat down directly across the hall from the painting. Not wanting to get involved in a staring contest with a painting of an old lady, he closed his eyes and took a few more of those deep breaths the lady had insisted upon. Subconsciously, James assumed what Sirius liked to call his "I am now going to brood on the horribleness of my life" position. He pulled his legs up close to his chest, forming a perfect isosceles triangle with the ground, and rested his elbows on his knees, letting his arms hang out over his toes. As he let his head fall back to rest on the wall, his negative thoughts drifted away from Amos and onto himself.

_How did I let her get that far beyond her breaking point? _James had been keeping tabs on Lily since the beginning of the year; he was fully well aware of her inability to say no to anyone. There were a few instances when he'd noticed someone asking Lily for help and he'd jumped in to take the job, knowing that she was already over-extending herself. Why hadn't he had the sense to stop her from taking on that peer tutoring session in the beginning of the year? He was full well aware of how hectic their seventh year was going to get, he should have stopped her. He shouldn't have let her work herself to the point of exhaustion.

Unaware of the watchful eyes of the knitting lady, James' mind traveled back to Lily's bedroom, less than an hour before.

"_Lily?" Was she even breathing? "Lily?"_

_He saw her steps falter only moments before she lost control, and thanks to his Quidditch honed reflexes, was at her side before she had the opportunity to add a fearsome headache to the exhaustion she was already feeling. He currently was supporting her unconscious body in quite an awkward position, one arm around her waist, pressing her to his side, causing him to be severely unbalanced. Realizing that he should probably lay her down, he picked her up in what would have been considered a romantic sweep if she, of course, had been conscious. As he walked over to her bed he noticed that she wasn't as light as he would have expected. Apparently Lily Evans had curves hidden underneath her black Hog – pause, rewind. Why did he care about her curves? They were friends, that's all, and he was happy with it. Well, at least they were friends before this whole fiasco._

_He laid her down on the bed, carefully resting her head on her pillows. Making sure she was in no danger of sliding onto the floor, he ran down to the common room in search of his wand. Finding it hidden underneath his forgotten pile of cards, he hurdled back up to Lily's room. Upon reaching her bedside he gently flicked his wand, _"_Ennervate."_

_Lily's eyes flickered open and she managed to mutter something incomprehensible before slipping back into oblivion. James had never known someone to pass out again after being awakened, but he chalked it up to shotty spellmanship. He tried again, but this time he got no reaction from her. His heart beat a little faster, realizing that he wasn't helping her at all. He tried a third and fourth time, but to no avail. By this point his heart was pounding, worried that Lily was seriously ill. He could only think of one more solution to her problem, but she wasn't going to like it._

"_Sod it." James knew she wasn't going to be happy with what he was doing but, well, she already wasn't happy with him. He scooped her up once more and rushed out of the room. In a few short moments James had maneuvered both himself and Lily out of the portrait hole and into the hall. Normally, James cursed the fact that his new common room was located on the first floor, miles away from the sanctuary of the Gryffindor tower, but tonight he was okay with being that much closer to the hospital wing._

_As he made his way quietly and quickly to see Madam Pomfrey he secretly hoped no one would be out and about at the moment. For one thing, he really didn't want to have to explain to anyone why he was _

_caring an unconscious Head Girl around Hogwarts. More importantly, however, he knew that Lily would be livid if anyone saw her in such a weak state, especially a prof-_

"_Mr. Potter? Can I ask what you're doing?"_

_Of all the professors, in all of Hogwarts, it had to be him. Lily was going to kill him. Good-bye Hogwarts, good-bye Quidditch, good-bye moonlit romps with the Marauders. After Lily found out that her weakness had been discovered, James was a goner. He slowly turned around, coming face to face with twinkling eyes and a long silver beard. How did Dumbledore manage to be everywhere in the school, especially when he wasn't wanted? Knowing full well that his face was bright red from running, but slightly more flushed from being caught in this intriguing situation, James hurried his explanation, in hopes to get to the hospital wing that much faster._

"_Well, you see, Professor, Lily had a lot of work to do, but she was knackered, so she fell asleep, and then I woke her up to give her dinner, but she got angry with me, because I should have woken her up, and then I told her she didn't know her own limits, and then she yelled, or at least tried to yell, but she couldn't yell very much, because she was so knackered, and then she fell and didn't wake up."_

"_I see…" Dumbledore's gaze lingered on Lily's limp figure, concern showing in his eyes. "Well, Mr. Potter, we should get her up to see our Madam Pomfrey then, shouldn't we?" With that he hastily strode in the direction of the hospital wing, while James followed closely behind him. Walking behind him, James could see Dumbledore searching around for something in the deep pockets of his robes. After a few brief moments the old man pulled his wand out, performed a complicated sequence of flicks and twists, and a blue light flew out of his wand._

_In no time at all were nearing the entrance to the hospital wing, where an extremely anxious Poppy Pomfrey was waiting at the door with a lantern in hand. "Where is she, Albus?"_

"_I see you got my message; she is right behind me. Mr. Potter was kind enough to carry her all this way." Dumbledore motioned with his hand behind him, just as James turned the corner._

"_Mr. Potter carried her? Surely you can't mean that it was," Poppy's eyes widened in shock. "MISS EVANS" At the sight of Lily in James' arms Madam Pomfrey quickly stepped to the side in order to allow James to get through the doorway easily. "Please, Mr. Potter, put her over here on this bed. What happened?"_

_James placed her delicately on the bed, trying to prevent any additional aches and pains, and then turned to give Madam Pomfrey an explanation. "Well, you see-"_

_Dumbledore cut him off. "It seems, Poppy, that Miss Evans has finally reached her breaking point. I daresay that she reached it several weeks ago, her mind just didn't let her body know."_

"_What did I tell you, Albus? At the beginning of the semester I told you that there was no doubt in my mind that she was going to be in here multiple times from exhaustion." Poppy had a slight annoyance in her tone._

_The two seemed to have forgotten that James was in the room. He was watching Lily, trying to gauge how extreme her meltdown had actually been. The face that was usually so rosy and full of life was pale, marred by dark circles under each eye. Her hair that was always a mass of bouncy, fiery curls was lifeless, lying limply around her shoulders. James reached out to take her hand, in what he imagined would be a comforting gesture, but quickly drew it back, when he felt the icy temperature of her skin. If it weren't for the shallow breathing he heard from her lips, he'd have thought her dead._

"_This girl does too much! She wants to help everyone, you know that, Albus! This was the exact situation I feared when you appointed her Head Girl; I've disagreed with it from the start!" Poppy had always had a soft spot for Lily, that girl worked herself hard and was always eager to please. Over seven years she'd grown into a competent young woman, always offering help when needed. Unfortunately, she never did know when to stop._

"_Poppy, you know I had my reasons – " At this point James felt the need to return the favor of cutting Dumbledore off._

"_EXCUSE ME!" James startled them both back to the current situation, with the Head Girl passed out in a bed next to them. "If you don't MIND, could you please do your JOB?" _Did I just say that? Did I just yell at the nurse and headmaster? I did. Bollocks. _James was sure he was going to get a month, at least, of bedpan cleaning for that. Well, at least he wouldn't have to complete the month – Lily was going to kill him anyway._

"_Oh, Miss Evans!" Pomfrey quickly came to her aid and began taking her blood pressure, heart rate, and temperature. Throughout her whole assessment she clucked and muttered incomprehensible words, all the time a frown growing on her face._

"_Her blood pressure is too high, too high indeed. This girl is taking on too much work; she needs to slow down. And her heart rate is very faint, very faint indeed. What seemed to happen is her heart didn't give out, but simply decided to take a break. It slowed down rapidly, slowing the blood flow, which is probably why a simple Ennervate charm wouldn't wake her up again. She's going to have to rest, she's going to have to rest quite a lot." With that, Pomfrey turned around and walked to the stock room, in search of a potion for Lily._

"_Err…sorry for yelling at you, Professor." James was looking at hi s feet, where the toes of his shoes were competing in an epic battle for being on top. He remarkably resembled a five year old who knew he had done something wrong._

"_My dear boy, it was good of you to yell at us. Sometimes us ancient folk get wrapped up in our own little personal disputes and need to be pulled back to reality. Don't worry about it." Dumbledore's eyes regained the familiar twinkle, as he chuckled at the mannerisms of his Head Boy._

"_Oh…well…ok." James looked up at Dumbledore, and, upon seeing the twinkle that had returned, decided now was as good a time as any to ask a favor. "Professor, can I ask you a question, well, more like a favor?"_

"_Well, you've just asked me a question, but I suppose that I have time for a favor."_

"_Umm, you see, Lily isn't going to be very pleased about being in the hospital wing. She thinks it's too white and too clean. And she's already not happy with me, because of the whole me not waking her up thing. And well, I was wondering, could you not mention that you saw her tonight?" With this Dumbledore gave him an interested look. "She's going to kill me if she knows that a professor saw her like that, especially you. She doesn't want anyone to think she can't handle her job, and well, I rather like my life right now, and would love to not die."_

_Dumbledore chuckled at the boy's reasoning, and so decided to humor him. "Alright, I won't mention anything to her. However, I'm leaving up to you to keep her from doing this to herself again. She needs to learn her limits, what she can and can't handle. I don't enjoy being questioned in my choices of Heads, and I'd hate to have to remove her from her position-"_

"_YOU CAN'T DO THAT! SHE'D DIE!"_

"_Mr. Potter! I'd thank you to not disturb my patients while they are resting!" Madam Pomfrey had returned from her potions closet, with a tray of rather nasty looking potions in tow. "If you can't keep your voice down, I must ask that you leave."_

"_But-"_

"_No buts. Please escort yourself out of the hospital wing. You can come back in the morning, after Miss Evans has recovered." With that, Pomfrey turned her back to him, effectively ending the argument._

"_Professor, please don't say anything – my life depends on it." After receiving a wink from the headmaster, James left the hospital wing and headed for the basement. He had some prefects to take care of._

So there he was, waiting not so patiently for one good for nothing prefect. He seriously couldn't comprehend what would possess Amos to put all of that responsibility on her. How could he be so selfish? Lily couldn't possibly handle all of her responsibilities plus his! His thoughts went back to her frail figure lying in that bed in the hospital wing and how small and fragile she looked in it.

"Achew!" A quiet sneeze pulled him out of his reverie.

"Bless you," James subconsciously replied. The sneeze came from the knitting lady across the hall.

"Oh, why thank you dearie, you're very kind." The lady gave him a soft smile he couldn't help but return. Her smile turned to concern when she noticed that his smile was a little strained. "Something bothering you, love?"

Caught off guard by the portrait's concern, James replied without thinking. "There's a whole lot of somethings bothering me. I can't deal with all of this. It's too much. Some people don't do enough work, some people do too much work, and the people I lo- the people who are my _friends_ are getting stuck with all of the nasty side effects!

"I mean, seriously, is it that hard to keep your hands off of somebody for, oh, I dunno, THREE hours, while you're supposed to be doing rounds? And another thing – is it too much for people to just ask for help every now and then? One person doing the jobs of four is just absolute insanity!"

"Absolute insanity, Potter? Last time I checked, talking to people that aren't there is a sign of absolute insanity…" Amos Diggory had just walked out of the Hufflepuff common room, with his better than thou attitude, and let the painting of Nicolas Flamel slam behind him. "Can I ask what you're doing here at such an odd hour? Surely even a Head Boy as _important_ as yourself gets a rest at times?"

Oh how he strongly disliked Amos Diggory. _IMPORTANT?_ Damn right he was important. And he was going to show Diggory how _important_ he was right now.

"_I'LL SHOW YOU WHO-"_

"Mr. Diggory, Professor Dumbledore would kindly like to see you in his office." James looked around for the source of the disembodied, yet familiar voice, but he couldn't find it. "Mr. Potter, kindly return to your residence."

Amos pushed past James in an abrasive manner, muttering something about meddlesome portraits. James continued searching for the source of the voice, but there was no one else in sight. James' first thought was that it had been the knitting lady, but the voice didn't sound like hers.

"Mr. Potter, kindly return to your residence." This time the voice was a little less polite and a little more authoritative, but he still couldn't place it. Now puzzled by this mystery voice, and equally angered by the loss of a good yell at Amos, James made his way back to the Heads residence.

* * *

_**Author's Note the Second: **__I also wanted to let you know that the meaning behind the title for this was originally going to surface in Chapter 1, when it was just meant to be a oneshot. However, Lily really wasn't cooperating, and thus the momentous "lime green jello" conversation that I've been writing in my head for a week now, has been getting pushed farther and farther back. But don't fret, my dearies! It shall come. It shall come. Oh, and I'm going to plug a friend's fic shamelessly right now, so please bear with me! You should all go read __One Month to Change Your Life__, by LilyandJames2790. Tis good!_


	3. Of White Sheets and Stress Relief

_**Author's Note:**__ Please, please, PLEASE don't hate me! I started this fic at a really bad time (right before finals) and was crazy busy with those! Then, once I was finally finished with finals, The Host came out. And, well, I was a bad writer and instead of writing my fic I enjoyed the amazingness of Wanderer/Mel. To top it all off, I was suffering from major writer's block as to what to do with this chapter. But anyway, I've been a horrendous writer, feel free to throw fish at me (just don't stop reviewing!!)_

_**Beta's note:**__ Hate me. It's my fault. It took me like three weeks to find time to beta this, because I'm a bum like that. Sorrrrrry!!_

* * *

A Brief Recap…

Lily is having serious issues with the whole "staying awake" thing, James is brooding over things out of his control, Amos is being a prat, portraits are meddling, Madam Pomfrey is on a Jello kick, and Slughorn left Hogwarts for a career as a nude model for Witch Weekly.

…okay, maybe not that last bit.

* * *

Now, without further ado, I give you…

**Chapter 3**

**Of White Sheets and Stress Relief**

It had been a long night, a very long night indeed. Without a wink of sleep since Madam Pomfrey's absolutely disgusting Sleeping Potion had worn off, Lily Evans was in a sorry state. She never slept well in white sheets, an issue her friends, both magical and muggle, loved very much to nag her about. To her, white sheets were like a straight jacket. Something about their lack of color made Lily feel like they served no point, other than to constrict her in nothingness. She'd tried a spell once to change the color, but she still knew they were originally white, and she couldn't get her mind off of that fact. As many people had often taken the chance to point out to her, the whole thing was rather pointless. She couldn't seem to shake it though; white sheets simply freaked her out.

This past night with the white sheets had especially freaked her out; she had entirely too much other work to complete, not to mention she had missed Emmeline's patrol! Maybe, if she were quiet enough, she'd be able to sneak out of this insanely clean room and get something accomplished with her life. 

Much to Lily's disappointment, however, as soon as she stirred even remotely, Pomfrey was at her side with more of that disgusting potion. Seriously, someone needed to inform her that putting a potion into jello was not normal. In fact, any food that moved on its own was simply not normal, even in the wizarding world.

"I hope you didn't think that you would be leaving that bed anytime soon, Miss Evans." Upon placing the jello on the cart next to Lily's bed, she helped her back underneath those revolting white sheets, and began to check her vitals once more. With a few less clucks than the night before, and a slightly smaller frown, Madam Pomfrey finished her assessment, seemingly satisfied with the progress Lily had made throughout the night. "A good night's rest seems to have done you some good," (Lily rolled her eyes at this comment.) "But I'm going to have to keep you here for at least another four days. I'm still not happy with the color of your skin or your eating habits."

"FOUR DAYS?!" Lily's eyes were wide. _Four bloody days? _"What am I supposed to do for FOUR DAYS? I have class! And I have to tutor students! And I have patrols! And people need me! And I just _can't_ be gone for FOUR DAYS!" Madam Pomfrey was crazy if she thought Lily would be staying in the Hospital Wing for FOUR DAYS.

"I think you will do _splendidly_ here for four days." There was a knowing look in her eyes. "Mr. Potter can take over Head duties for the time being, I'm sure he won't mind. And any class work that you miss can be brought here for you to complete."

Lily was having none of that. "But you don't understand! I _need_-"

"Oh, but I _do_ understand. You _need_ to get your health back in order. You _need_ to learn how to balance. You _need _to learn how to ask for help. That, Miss Evans, is what you _need_ to do." Lily was speechless. Never before had anyone told her she did too much. Honestly, she didn't know anyone had ever noticed, except for Potter. Potter, though, he was an exception, probably just because he lived with her. Even _he_ wasn't that thick.

Aware that she wouldn't be winning this argument, she gracefully conceded. Maybe Madam Pomfrey was right, maybe some rest would do her some good. Alice could easily collect the work from each of her classes (she knew there was a reason they'd decided to take nearly identical schedules!). As for Head duties, Potter could manage without her for four – FOUR DAYS?! WHAT WAS SHE THINKING, STAYING HERE FOR FOUR DAYS?

She couldn't stay here, she'd go crazy! And she most certainly couldn't stay in a bloody white-sheeted bed for the entirety of those four days! Maybe a trip to the library? Surely, Pomfrey couldn't refuse the Head Girl a simple trip to the library…once or twice…a day...for five to six hours.

_Okay Lily, turn on the charm._

"Madam Pomfrey?"

"Hmm?"

"I've realized that you're right, I do need to relax more. And I completely understand you wanting to keep me here, for my health. Well, I was wondering, just as a way to pass the time, if I could possibly take-"

"Absolutely NOT. I don't care how much you think you can charm your way out of this Hospital Wing Miss Evans, I don't care where you would like to take a trip to, you are NOT leaving that bed for anything other than a trip to the loo." With that, Madam Pomfrey effectively ended the argument, pivoting on her heel and walking into her office.

"Hmph."

"Now dearie, she's just worried for your health, no need to act like you're seven years old." Lily looked up to the corner of the hospital wing, where a portrait of an old, grandmotherly woman hung. The woman was sitting in what looked like a very comfortable leather chair, studying one half of a board of wizard chess, mumbling to herself about her unseen opponent's latest move. Lily was intrigued by the woman, never having seen her before, or perhaps just never noticing her? The portrait was hung in possibly the only area of the Hospital Wing that wasn't bright, cheery, and _white._

_Lucky witch, I wonder if I can get Pomfrey to move my bed over there._

"Excuse me, ma'am-" The portrait shushed her.

"Just one moment dear, I've almost got him…" The woman went back to staring at her chess game, with the invisible person on the other side of the portrait frame. She studied the board a few more moments, and with a sly smile, she moved her black knight to capture the white rook. "Beat that!"

Satisfied with her game at the moment, the woman turned to face Lily. There was a beauty on her face that Lily hadn't noticed before – not what some would call 'drop dead gorgeous,' but more profound, something that went right to the soul. There was something about her that led Lily to believe that this woman had seen and dealt with more than her slight build led one to believe.

Her eyes seemed to stare straight through Lily, causing her to bury herself, albeit unwillingly, into the white sheets that Pomfrey so insisted she stay in. "It seems to me, dear heart, that you don't know a good thing when it's handed to you."

"Bu-"

"No, no dear, hasn't anyone ever told you it's impolite to interrupt?" The lady gave her a reproachful stare. "As I was saying, you should really appreciate this. Why, in my day, if someone were to tell me to lay in a bed and do nothing for four days, I would be cheerier than a bowtruckle in a willow tree! Now I see that nice shiny Head Girl badge on your robes, surely you're a very busy girl. Take a word of advice from a tired old lady; take advantage of it when people help you out. It doesn't happen all too often with us powerful women," At this point the woman stole a quick glance over at her partner, and then blocked her mouth from his view.

"If you ask me," she whispered covertly, "those big strong men? They're intimidated by us.

"What's that, love?" The woman's attention was once again directed toward her invisible partner. "Oh nothing concerning you, just having a lovely heart to heart with a young lady over here." There was a slight pause, leading Lily to believe that the invisible (she assumed) man was replying. "Oh, don't get your knickers in a twist. If you're going to insist on playing that side game with Fin, let me have my time with this lovely lady…"

Lily couldn't help but laugh at the exchange between the two, or at least the half of the exchange she could hear. She couldn't help but think there was something about this woman she was missing though. Something familiar, yet extremely foreign at the same time. Perhaps she'd spend her four days deciphering this newest Hogwarts mystery.

A loud gasp from the elderly lady brought Lily out of her reverie. "Well I've never! You put those away this instant." The woman's eyes stared disapprovingly ahead of her, and her lips were thin enough to make McGonagall envious. "What did I just say during our last game! A billywig sting on my part does not constitute a win on your part! Put them…oh don't you…DON'T YOU MAKE ME," The woman put on a pleasant face and turned to Lily.

"If you'll just pardon me one moment," and with that, the woman stood up from her rather comfy looking high-backed leather chair, and marched off, out of the right side of her painting.

Lily laughed at the goings on in this portrait small part of the portrait world. This mystery man and his friend seemed to be causing that woman a great deal of stress. She could easily see why this woman would so gladly give up her work to lie in a bed – her portrait mate seemed to be a handful.

_Maybe all male pairs are troublesome in their own way._ Lily imagined the lady on the receiving end of one of James' and Sirius' pranks and once again laughed out loud.

"Now that's what I like to hear!"

Lily turned away from the elderly woman to see who'd entered the Hospital, and her smile grew even wider. Walking toward her was a short girl, no taller than 5'2, with brown eyes shaped like almonds. She sported a short pixie haircut, a by-product of a rather nasty rebellion against her parents in their 5th year, with hair that was such a light brown it looked blonde in some lights.

"ALICE!"

"Lily, dear, you do realize there are more health friendly ways to keep our seventh year stress free?"

Lily rolled her eyes, _Not this stress free seventh year bollocks again!_

"Don't you roll your eyes! You stress, you get sick. You get sick, I worry. I worry, I stress. Please tell me what's wrong with that sequence."

"It's not stress free?" Lily looked up at her meekly. Despite Alice's petite stature, she was probably one of the most feared students at Hogwarts. She had a very overpowering personality, and although she didn't purposefully use it to get her way, it often turned out that way. The only student at Hogwarts seemingly unaffected by Alice's demeanor was the one person Alice actually attempted to use her attitude on, her boyfriend of 10 months, Frank Longbottom.

"That's right! It's not STRESS FREE!" Alice was yelling now, but she was doing it while trying to suppress a smile, making it much less effective.

"But you can't _possibly_ be mad at me," Lily batted her eyes and stuck out her lower lip, "I'm too cute to be mad at."

"Nope. Still mad at you." Alice was avoiding eye contact with Lily at this point. No one ever lasted very long against Lily's 'cute' face once they made eye contact.

"Look at me and say that again." And Lily knew no one could stand against her face.

Alice turned to look at Lily "Nope. Still mad – Oh bloody hell. I'm not mad; just don't worry me like that again! Do you know what I had to listen to last night? James bloody Potter, stomping around the common room, complaining about Merlin knows what! He didn't even have the decency to go back to his own common room and stew!"

"Oh. I s'pose I owe him an apology…"

"What do you have to apologize for? Last time I checked, James' unnecessary outbursts were one of the few things you _didn't_ take responsibility for!"

"No, I kind of yelled at him last night. And by 'kind of' I mean a whole lot. I mean after all, it wasn't his fault I overslept. If only he had just left me alone afterwards, I could've gotten some of my Charms essay done before going on rounds-" Lily was cut off from her rambling once again by Alice.

"You won't have to worry about those extra rounds anymore. That was one of the things James was rambling on and on about. Apparently he spent a good portion of the night outside of the Hufflepuff common room, waiting for Amos to come out."

"He didn't." Lily's face went white.

"Oh, he did. And from what I heard, boy did he let Amos have it. He said something about self important prefects thinking they can get away with whatever they want, and mentioned something to Sirius about having a mind to return to his old ways of hexing people from behind."

"No. Oh no, how could he? I'll need to make it up to Amos; it's not fair to him. Oh no, oh no." Lily's face was now nearly transparent, and she was once again beginning to stress, needing to fix things for Amos and Emmeline. "I'll have to take his Hogsmeade patrol for them, yes that's it! Then they can take care of their personal things, and patrol will be done right. So that leaves me 3 days to finish-"

Lily had been too preoccupied with her plans to notice Alice slip away, nor had she noticed Alice's return with the ever concerned Madam Pomfrey at her side. In fact, she didn't see anyone or anything of much until a small white cup was placed in front of her face.

"What's this? I can't take this! I have plans I need to make! You've already confined me to this godforsaken bed, don't try and control what goes through my mind as well!" Lily shoved the jello cup, which strongly reminded her of the "jello shots" her sister often made for muggle parties, out of her face.

As she shoved the cup out of her face, Madam Pomfrey took advantage of her hands being occupied and pinched Lily's nose shut. Lily held out for as long as she could, but she eventually had to take a breath, and with that breath came the nauseating experience of Pomfrey's newest experiment, Sleeping Drought in gelatin form.

The last thing she saw was Alice, standing behind Pomfrey, mouthing an apology, and then there was black.

* * *

"Ungh…"

_Where am I? _Lily sat up, waking in total darkness, interrupted by a single glowing light up to her left. The disorientation that one usually experiences when waking up in an unfamiliar place was multiplied tenfold by the magically induced sleep she just woke up from. And then it hit her, it hit her like a pile of white sheets.

"No…"She sobbed. The last few minutes before Madam Pomfrey forced her to sleep came back to her, and she realized what now needed to be done. She was going to have to give up her Hogsmeade weekend to patrol for Amos; it wasn't fair to him that he had to go on patrol last night. Not only did this mean she was giving up her weekend with Alice, but now she was going to have to get all of her schoolwork that she had planned doing early that Saturday morning, done before the weekend began. Adding all of that schoolwork to three nights of patrol, and it was more than she could take.

"I CAN'T DO IT ALL!" she yelled to no one in particular, slamming her fists on the mattress on either side of her. "I can't do it all anymore…"

Lily began sobbing; she pulled her knees up to her chest in an attempt to keep her from breaking apart more than she already felt like she had. Her body was shaking with her tears, three months of tension flowing from her eyes.

"Do you hate me, God? Am I really that bad?" she mumbled into her knees. "I can't do this anymore! I need help! I need to not be alone with this world."

But she was alone. She didn't have any friends to share her burden with. Alice was too set in her stress-free seventh year. The Marauders were too carefree to be concerned with her busy life. James had his own work to deal with. Tuney hadn't spoken to her years. And Severus. Severus, well he didn't qualify as much of a friend anymore.

The thought of Severus seemed to rip apart a nearly healed wound, and her tears came back with a new vengeance. She cried for what seemed like hours, and if she had picked up her head, she would've seen the elderly lady from the portrait, now dressed in a nightdress, watching over her protectively.

At some point in the night after she'd finished crying she stood up to find a glass of water. Her movement seemed to have alerted the Chess Lady, who picked up the oil lamp she'd placed on top of the chess board and turned it up.

"Feeling better, dear heart?" The woman looked at her with concern.

"Not really," she replied. Upon seeing the woman open her mouth again to ask her another question, she quickly added "but I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay then, you get some rest." Chess Lady reached over to turn her lamp down again.

"Wait! I'm not really that tired. Can we just talk about something else?"

"Why, of course my dear! What's on your mind?" The woman actually seemed quite eager to talk with someone other than her bothersome partner

"Well I was kind of wondering, not to be rude or anything, but I have no idea who you are. What's your name?" Lily looked at her hopefully, praying that with this woman's name, she'd be able to place where she recognized her from.

"Do you not know? Well that's unexpected," she turned to her right briefly, seemingly distracted by her portrait mate. "Go back to sleep, I am not bigheaded."

"I'm sorry, ma'am, should I know who you are?"

"No, it's not really common knowledge, as my partner over there felt fit to remind me. You can call me Ray."

"Okay, Ray. That's nice to have something to call you…" Lily searched for a topic that would keep the conversation away from her and her breakdown.

"How long have you been here?"

"Well, that's a tough question. You see, my portrait was painted twenty or so years before I died, but has only been hanging here for, at most, 200 years."

"Two hundred years! That was much longer than I was expecting! I feel like I've never seen you here before…"

"Well, I'm usually chasing those two," she nodded her head toward her invisible chess partner and his friend Fin, "around the castle. They really are two of the biggest troublemakers I've ever met in my life."

"You've never met Sirius Black and James Potter."

"Oh I've heard tell of the Marauders." She once again turned to her right and gave a stern look to her partner. "Oh, shush you. They're just kids. Not everyone has your _expertise._" The last bit was dripping with sarcasm.

"My partner over here would like it known that he should never be compared with such a group of amateurs."

And with that, the conversation turned to elaborate tales of the various problems the Marauders had caused for Lily and the nuisances that Ray had to put up with, named Fin and Serp. As their discussion continued, and Ray elaborated on her many ways of getting back at the infamous "F and S," Lily began to realize that Ray was far from the delicate, endearing, elderly lady that Lily had first thought her to be. Each tale was more elaborate than the last, and Ray was occasionally interrupted by Serp, who demanded that she "tell it right, or so help him, he'd be over there faster than a pixie."

The conversation eventually turned from the boys to Ray, but Lily kept the topic far away from her breakdown a few hours earlier. Ray had been Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, and for many years prior to that, she'd taught Charms and Arithmancy.

"Charms! It's by far my favorite subject!" Lily was thrilled to have found someone, aside from Flitwick, who shared her passion for the subject. She opened her mouth again to ask about her about the difference between a Patronus Charm and a Shield spell (after all, it never hurt to have a little help from a professor!) but she was cut off.

"Whatever it is you have to say, surely it can wait until the morning. It's only an hour or two until sunrise, and though I may be a portrait, that Madam Pomfrey of yours terrifies me. You need to get rest, or the Hospital Wing will be short one portrait."

"Bu-"

"Good night, Lily dear," Ray interrupted in a tone that indicated the conversation was over.

"Uhh," she grumbled as she lay down in her bed, facing away from Ray's portrait. She was the type of girl who usually needed complete blackness to sleep, and the oil lamp was hurting her eyes. In a joking tone, she tilted her head once more toward Ray, and made a very James-like comment.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you it's impolite to interrupt?"

"Good night to you too," Ray said through a stifled laugh.

Snuggling into her bed, making herself as comfortable as possible in the white abyss of nothingness surrounding her, Lily smiled.

_Maybe four days won't be so bad._

* * *

_**Author's Note the Second: **So this ended up being a lot longer than I expected, and because of it, the next chapter will be just as long (if not longer!) Also, I promise to never, never, NEVER you wait this long a gain for an update. I certainly hate it when fics I'm reading aren't updated for weeks on end, so I'd hate to do it to you!_

_That said, please review! All critiques are welcome!_


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